Middle-aged Britons are healthier than Americans but die sooner ‘because our healthcare system is worse’

Middle-aged Britons are healthier than those in America but die earlier because our healthcare system is much worse, a report has found. NHS treatment of tumours, heart attacks and strokes is too ‘conservative’ and not as ‘aggressive’ as in the U.S. where more lives are saved as treatment is given sooner and with less consideration of cost.

Britons over the age of 50 are significantly healthier than their American counterparts, but they are 5 per cent less likely to live to the age of 80. They have far lower levels of heart disease, cancer and diabetes, mainly because obesity rates are not as high, a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found.

But the authors say the U.S. healthcare system is more effective at diagnosing potentially fatal diseases and treating them early. And they say national cancer screening programmes, such as that in place in the U.S. for prostate cancer, have drastically improved survival rates.

The study, carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and RAND Corporation research centre in Los Angeles, found that cancer rates in England for those aged 50 to 80 were 6.6 per cent, less than half the rate for the U.S. which was 13.7 per cent. In the same age group rates of heart disease were 14.6 per cent in England, compared to 25.4 per cent in the U.S., while diabetes levels were 8.13 per cent in England compared to 14.6 per cent in the U.S.

Once they reach the age of 80, men in the U.S. will live for an average of 7.6 years compared to English men, who will live for 7.1 years. Similarly 80-year-old women can expect to live for 9.1 years in America, compared to just 8.72 years in England.

The authors acknowledged the UK spends far less on healthcare – the NHS comprises just 7.2 per cent of GDP compared to the American healthcare system which takes up 16 per cent of GDP.

And critics warned vast sums of the NHS budget is wasted on bureaucracy rather than being spent on patient care.

James Smith, chair in labour markets and demographic studies at RAND, said: ‘This report isn’t a condemnation of the NHS. It’s just saying how countries make their healthcare systems work.

‘Sometimes there’s a let it happen attitude. Treatment of illnesses is much more aggressive in the U.S. than the UK. Doctors would refer to it as a conservative approach and want to simply get rid of the problem – such as removing a tumour immediately even if it turns out to be benign. The downside is that this costs the U.S.’

Last year a highly critical report by the Organisation for Economic Co-orporation and Development ranked the NHS alongside health services in Poland and the Czech Republic, far below those in France, Sweden and Germany.

Curse the judge, shout fanatics as the Muslim girl who knifed British MP smiles as she gets “life” in prison

A judge was subjected to a tirade of abuse in his own courtroom yesterday as he jailed an Al Qaeda-inspired Muslim woman for attempting to assassinate an MP.

Islamist protesters harangued Mr Justice Cooke from the public gallery at the Old Bailey, shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ (‘God is great’), ‘British go to hell’ and ‘Curse the judge’.

The outbursts came as Roshonara Choudhry, 21, was sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing former minister Stephen Timms. Choudhry smiled broadly as the judge told her: ‘You said you ruined the rest of your life. You said it was worth it. You said you wanted to be a martyr.’

Choudhary has been found guilty of trying to murder Labour MP Stephen Timms. Today it can be revealed she had a hit list of politicians

Outside, a second group demonstrated as the judge told the high-flying student – who stabbed the politician twice in the stomach as ‘punishment’ for voting for the Iraq invasion – that she must serve at least 15 years behind bars.

The chaotic scenes unfolded as Home Secretary Theresa May dramatically revealed that the Al Qaeda gang behind last week’s ‘Lockerbie-style’ cargo plane bomb plot are already working in the UK.

In court the judge pointedly contrasted Mr Timms’ Christian beliefs with the ‘distorted thinking’ of his attacker, who refused to recognise the court and appeared by videolink for her sentencing.

‘I understand that he (Mr Timms) brings to bear his own faith, which upholds very different values from those which appear to have driven this defendant,’ he said. ‘Those values are those upon which the common law of this country was founded and include respect and love for one’s neighbour, for the foreigner in the land, and for those who consider themselves enemies, all as part of one’s love of God. ‘These values were the basis of our system of law and justice and I trust that they will remain so as well as motivating those, like Mr Timms, who hold public office.’

The stabbed MP yesterday backed calls for an overhaul of U.S. websites hosting terror videos. The MP, attacked at a constituency surgery, said: ‘My real worry about it all is that a very bright young woman with everything to live for would reach the conclusion that she should throw it all away by attempting to kill the local MP.

‘It is puzzling and alarming that she seems to have reached the conclusion by spending time on some website. ‘That raises questions about what’s on the web. As I understand it, the material she accessed would be illegal if it were hosted in the UK.’

Hundreds of videos inciting violence, including clips by the U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki who inspired Choudhry to attempt to assassinate the MP, were removed from YouTube yesterday.

Their removal followed a private speech in the United States by security minister Baroness Neville-Jones in which she called on the White House to ‘take down this hateful material’.

Mr Timms, 55, describing the moment he was stabbed in East London in May by the smiling student, said: ‘I shouted out, “What was that for?”’ ‘That was the last thing that I expected to happen and there was absolutely no explanation to me. She didn’t say a word. It was a complete bolt out of the blue.’

After being disarmed by the MP’s assistant and held by a security guard, Choudhry told detectives the stabbing was ‘to get revenge for the people of Iraq’.

Sentencing Choudhry after she was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of having an offensive weapon, the judge said that if she had succeeded in killing Mr Timms he would have given her a whole-life sentence, meaning she would never be released.

He told her: ‘You intended to kill in a political cause and to strike at those in Government by doing so. ‘You did so as a matter of deliberate decision-making, however skewed your reasons, from listening to those Muslims who incite such action on the internet.

‘You are an intelligent young lady who has absorbed immoral ideas and wrong patterns of thinking and attitudes. ‘It is not only possible, but I also hope that you will come to understand the distorted nature of your thinking, the evil that you have done and planned to do, and repent of it.’

He added: ‘You do not suffer from any mental disease. You have simply committed evil acts coolly and deliberately.’

Choudhry, from East Ham, East London, spoke only to confirm her name when she appeared by videolink for sentencing yesterday. Wearing a black headscarf, she sat placidly blinking behind her glasses as she watched proceedings on a screen in front of her.

The court heard she was a straight-A pupil and top university student at King’s College, London. She had hoped to become a teacher but dropped out weeks before carrying out the attack.

English language lecturer Alan Fortune said she was an outstanding student who had been expected to achieve a first class honours degree, adding: ‘The world was her oyster.’

Unfair trade: Ethical food ‘is not lifting Third World farmers out of poverty’

Sales of its food have boomed on the back of promises that it delivers a fair price and decent working conditions to Third World farmers. But Fairtrade products are failing to lift the farmers out of poverty, according to a study published today.

Less than 25 per cent of the price premium paid by shoppers for Fairtrade’s ‘ethical food’, such as coffee and chocolate, reaches the farmer, the controversial think-tank report suggests.

The study from the Institute of Economic Affairs says the high cost of joining the scheme prevents many of the poorest farmers from becoming members. The certification charge to join the organisation starts at £1,570 in the first year, which the IEA says is a huge sum for producers in the poorest countries.

The report – Fairtrade Without the Froth – says: ‘Fairtrade’s selling point to customers is that by paying a premium and buying certified products they will help producers in developing countries. ‘Although at the margins this may be true, research shows that Fairtrade is not a strategy for long-term development. Conventional trade is often more effective. ‘It is likely that producers end up with only a small fraction of the extra margin consumers pay.

‘Even analysts sympathetic to the movement have suggested that only 25 per cent of the premium reaches producers. No study ever produced has shown that the benefit to producers anything like matches the price premium paid.’

In fact, a number of retailers have made great play of the fact that their Fairtrade food and other products cost no more than those from conventional sources, so consumers are not paying any premium.

Fairtrade works with 1.3million farmers and, taking into account their workers and dependants, supports around seven million people.

In Britain, the Fairtrade Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation, licenses use of the Fairtrade mark. The foundation is part of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International.

Big names such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Starbucks, Green & Black’s and Ben & Jerry’s have added their commercial weight to the scheme. The net effect is that UK sales of Fairtrade products rose 12 per cent last year to reach £800million.

The IEA report follows studies by right of centre think-tanks, which have argued that the phenomenon actually keeps Third World farmers poor.

But Barbara Crowther, policy director of the Fairtrade Foundation, hit back at the criticism. ‘Increasingly, consumers are not paying any extra for Fairtrade products,’ she said. ‘For example, Sainsbury’s did not put up prices when it moved to Fairtrade bananas and Cadbury did not make its Dairy Milk bar any more expensive. ‘It is spurious to suggest Fairtrade costs more. People may choose to pay more for Fairtrade products, but that might be because of other attributes, in terms of quality and taste.’

She said the registration fees were not expensive and reflected the cost of auditing the farms involved. A fee of £1,570 could cover a farming co-op of 50 growers, which amounts to an average of just over £30 each.

‘Many studies have been published by independent academics which demonstrate that Fairtrade is making a real difference to people’s lives,’ she said.

Nick Clegg faced the wrath of students today after his pre-election promise to end tuition fees was brutally exposed by a coalition plan to hike them as high as £9,000-a-year.

Furious student leaders met with the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss the Government announcement which revealed an almost three-fold increase in the current £3,290-a-year limit for the cost of courses.

Mr Clegg, who earlier appeared stony-faced in the House of Commons when Universities Minister David Willetts told MPs of the changes, was accused of a plot to ‘blow up education’ by one students’ union leader.

The changes – which will come into effect in 2012 will see the fee threshold moved to £6,000 with some institutions able to charge £9,000 in ‘exceptional circumstances’. This is a three-fold increase on the current limit of £3,290-a-year and means fees for a three-year course could hit £27,000. Students could face total debts of £40,000 once living costs are included.

The universities wanting to charge more than £6,000 will be subject to ‘fair access conditions’ and have to show they are improving access for disadvantaged students.

The Lib Dems fought the election promising to scrap tuition fees and have succeeded in blocking plans to allow elite universities to charge unlimited amounts.

Labour leader Ed Miliband accused the Government of ‘destroying trust in politics’ by breaking various pledges, including on university funding. He claimed it was a ‘Government of broken promises’ on fees, VAT and child benefit. ‘That is what they meant by Broken Britain,’ he said at PMQs. ‘The Prime Minister used to say he wanted to restore trust. All he is doing, day by day, is destroying trust in politics.’

Mr Cameron retorted that Labour had ‘completely broken their word’ on the Browne report on university funding, which the previous government had commissioned.

He insisted Lib Dem ministers had ‘all taken, frankly, some courageous and difficult decisions.’ ‘I think every single person in this House of Commons wants strong universities that are well funded, that have greater independence and we want to make sure that people from the poorest homes can go to the best universities in our country,’ he said.

‘That is what the proposals are going to achieve. They grew from a decision made by the last government to set up the Browne report and what a pity that opportunism has overtaken principle.’

Mr Willetts earlier told the Commons that the Government wanted to see universities offering scholarships to targeted students, making their first year free.

Institutions charging over the £6,000 threshold would face sanctions if they did not do enough for poorer pupils, with a proportion of their extra income diverted into outreach activities.

The Minister insisted the proposals were a ‘good deal for universities and for students’.

‘These proposals offer a thriving future for universities, with extra freedoms and less bureaucracy, and they ensure value for money and real choice for learners,’ he said.

Today’s plans will see students begin to repay their loans at 9 per cent of their income at a real rate of interest when they earn £21,000 – up from £15,000.

Outstanding loans will be written off after 30 years but those who want to pay off theirs early will be hit with a financial penalty in a victory for the Lib Dems.

Tory ministers were thought to oppose moves that would hit middle-class parents who help their children but the concession was made to their coalition partners.

Mr Willetts said: ‘The Government is committed to the progressive nature of the repayment system.

‘It is therefore important that those on the highest incomes post graduation are not able unfairly to buy themselves out of this progressive system by paying off their loans early.

‘We will consult on potential early repayment mechanisms – similar to those paid by people who pre-pay their mortgages. These mechanisms would need to ensure that graduates on modest incomes who strive to pay off their loans early through regular payments are not penalised.’

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About jonjayray

I am former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.
The kneejerk response of the Green/Left to people who challenge them is to say that the challenger is in the pay of "Big Oil", "Big Business", "Big Pharma", "Exxon-Mobil", "The Pioneer Fund" or some other entity that they see, in their childish way, as a boogeyman. So I think it might be useful for me to point out that I have NEVER received one cent from anybody by way of support for what I write. As a retired person, I live entirely on my own investments. I do not work for anybody and I am not beholden to anybody

NOTE: I update this blog daily at roughly the same time every day (around midnight, Eastern Australian time or 2pm GMT) so if there are no recent posts long after the usual time for them to go up, it will almost certainly be due to one of the service interruptions that Wordpress (hosts of this blog) sometimes undergoes. In that case, however, all is not lost, as I will put up mirror sites of the blog if I become aware of the service outage. Go to either here or here to find another copy of what should be up on this blog. Note however that I no longer update the mirror sites daily. Service outages are as far as I am aware now too rare to justify that

Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.

As a socialist organization, it is no surprise that the NHS comes second only to the Nazis and Communists as a mass murderer. They have a truly Hitlerian contempt for "useless eaters". That the "useless eater" they are condemning to death might be your beloved mother or grandmother cuts no ice with them.
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Some TERMINOLOGY for non-British readers: The British "A Level" exam is roughly equivalent to a U.S. High School diploma. Rather confusingly, you can get As, Bs or Cs in your "A Level" results. Entrance to the better universities normally requires several As in your "A Levels".

The BIGGEST confusion in British terminology, however, surrounds use of the term "public school". Traditionally, a public school was where people who were rich but not rich enough to afford private tutors sent their kids. So a British public school is a fee-paying school. It is what Americans or Australians would call a private school. Brits are however aware of the confusion this causes benighted non-Brits so these days often in the media use "Independent" where once they would have used "public". The term for a taxpayer-supported school in Britain is a State school, but there are several varieties of those. The most common (and deplorable) type of State school is a "Comprehensive"

Again for American readers: A "pensioner" is a retired person living on Social Security

Consensus. Margaret Thatcher in a 1981 speech: "For me, pragmatism is not enough. Nor is that fashionable word "consensus."... To me consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects—the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner "I stand for consensus"?

For my sins I have always loved G.B. Shaw's witty comment: "No Englishman can open his mouth without causing another Englishman to despise him". But Shaw was Irish, of course.

Britain has enormous claims to fame -- most of which the 1997 to 2010 Labour government did its best to destroy. But one glory no-one can destroy is British humour. And if you don't "get" British humour, your life is a dreary desert indeed. A superb sample here

Here is a link to my favourite British political speech since WWII. It is by Nigel Farage, the Leader of the UK Independence Party. He is referring to the Fascistic decision by the EU parliament to act as if their huge new "constitution" had been approved by the voters when in fact majorities in France, Ireland and Nederland (Holland) have rejected it at the ballot box. He points out that abuse is all they have to offer when he points out the impropriety of their actions.

Farage's expression, "A complete shower" is British slang meaning a group of completely incompetent and useless failures. It originated in the British armed forces where its unabbreviated version was "A complete shower of sh*t".

Britain appears to be the first country where anti-patriotism gained strong hold. Even Friedrich Engels (the co-worker with Karl Marx who died in 1895) was a furious German patriot. Much of the British elite were anti-patriotic from the early 20th century onwards, however. The "Cambridge spies" (from one of Britain's two most prestigious universities) are a good example of that. Although Cambridge appears to have been the chief nest of spies-to-be in Britain of the 30s, however, Oxford was also very Leftist. In 1933 (9th Feb.) the Oxford Union debated the motion: "This House will in no circumstances fight for King and Country". The motion was overwhelmingly carried (275 to 153).

I have an abiding fascination with the Church of England. It is the sort of fascination one might have for a once-distinguished elderly relative who has gone bad and become a slave to the bottle. But nothing I can say about the C of E (which these days seems to stand for The Church of the Environment) could surpass what the whole of English literature says of it -- which ranges from seeing it as a collection of nincompoops and incompetents to seeing it as comprised of evil hypocrites. Yet its 39 "Articles of Religion" of 1562 are an abiding and eloquent statement of Protestant faith. But I guess that 1562 is a long time ago.

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could well have been thinking of modern Britain when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

On all my blogs, I express my view of what is important primarily by the readings that I select for posting. I do however on occasions add personal comments in italicized form at the beginning of an article.

I am rather pleased to report that I am a lifelong conservative. Out of intellectual curiosity, I did in my youth join organizations from right across the political spectrum so I am certainly not closed-minded and am very familiar with the full spectrum of political thinking. Nonetheless, I did not have to undergo the lurch from Left to Right that so many people undergo. At age 13 I used my pocket-money to subscribe to the "Reader's Digest" -- the main conservative organ available in small town Australia of the 1950s. I have learnt much since but am pleased and amused to note that history has since confirmed most of what I thought at that early age.

I imagine that the RD are still sending mailouts to my 1950s address

The kneejerk response of the Green/Left to people who challenge them is to say that the challenger is in the pay of "Big Oil", "Big Business", "Big Pharma", "Exxon-Mobil", "The Pioneer Fund" or some other entity that they see, in their childish way, as a boogeyman. So I think it might be useful for me to point out that I have NEVER received one cent from anybody by way of support for what I write. As a retired person, I live entirely on my own investments. I do not work for anybody and I am not beholden to anybody. And I have NO investments in oil companies, mining companies or "Big Pharma"

UPDATE: Despite my (statistical) aversion to mining stocks, I have recently bought a few shares in BHP -- the world's biggest miner, I gather. I run the grave risk of becoming a speaker of famous last words for saying this but I suspect that BHP is now so big as to be largely immune from the risks that plague most mining companies. I also know of no issue affecting BHP where my writings would have any relevance. The Left seem to have a visceral hatred of miners. I have never quite figured out why.

I am an army man. Although my service in the Australian army was chiefly noted for its un-notability, I DID join voluntarily in the Vietnam era, I DID reach the rank of Sergeant, and I DID volunteer for a posting in Vietnam. So I think I may be forgiven for saying something that most army men think but which most don't say because they think it is too obvious: The profession of arms is the noblest profession of all because it is the only profession where you offer to lay down your life in performing your duties. Our men fought so that people could say and think what they like but I myself always treat military men with great respect -- respect which in my view is simply their due.

Although I have been an atheist for all my adult life, I have no hesitation in saying that the single book which has influenced me most is the New Testament. And my Scripture blog will show that I know whereof I speak.

Many people hunger and thirst after righteousness. Some find it in the hatreds of the Left. Others find it in the love of Christ. I don't hunger and thirst after righteousness at all. I hunger and thirst after truth. How old-fashioned can you get?

My academic background

My full name is Dr. John Joseph RAY. I am a former university teacher aged 65 at the time of writing in 2009. I was born of Australian pioneer stock in 1943 at Innisfail in the State of Queensland in Australia. I trace my ancestry wholly to the British Isles. After an early education at Innisfail State Rural School and Cairns State High School, I taught myself for matriculation. I took my B.A. in Psychology from the University of Queensland in Brisbane. I then moved to Sydney (in New South Wales, Australia) and took my M.A. in psychology from the University of Sydney in 1969 and my Ph.D. from the School of Behavioural Sciences at Macquarie University in 1974. I first tutored in psychology at Macquarie University and then taught sociology at the University of NSW. My doctorate is in psychology but I taught mainly sociology in my 14 years as a university teacher. In High Schools I taught economics. I have taught in both traditional and "progressive" (low discipline) High Schools. Fuller biographical notes here